akashic
1876–2024
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC·South Carolina

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC voted Democratic for a century; it now votes Republican by 14 points.

Lowcountry resort coast where retiree in-migration reshapes the electorate

1876 — 2024·38 elections
SC
Latest
R+14
in 2024
Archetype
Old Confederacy
since the recent cycles
Population
227,455
2024 ACS

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina: Old Confederacy metro. In 2024, voted R+14%. Democratic peak: D+95 in 1936.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
R+14MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
Old ConfederacyAkashic typology
Population
227,4552024 5-year
Median household income
$83,6092024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
66.2%2024 5-year
Black
18.1%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
13.1%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+95 in 1936MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+26 in 1972MIT Election Lab
2024 results by constituent county
2 counties · 0 D · 2 R
R+60
D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
R
−13.8%
52,14669,023122,630
R
−8.6%
50,60460,272112,229
R
−11.1%
38,09448,10989,951
R
−13.5%
35,60546,85683,318
R
−6.9%
35,78541,18677,724
R
−17.6%
25,34536,26462,081
R
−13.5%
21,13327,97550,617
R
−5.1%
17,58519,59939,630
R
−4.2%
14,91916,46037,050
R
−22.0%
11,58518,18829,950
R
−20.3%
11,10016,77027,997
D
+2.3%
10,72710,23721,669
D
+11.1%
8,9527,15616,169
R
−25.9%
4,4407,57912,131
D
+13.5%
5,1423,61611,337
R
−14.5%
3,7495,0258,774
R
−5.2%
2,5212,8005,321
O
−13.2%
9201,4544,048
R
−15.9%
1,7422,3994,141
O
+9.9%
3941812,144
D
+55.8%
8241261,251
D
+76.7%
1,0001321,132
D
+95.3%
95301,000
D
+92.3%
95401,034
D
+59.7%
516129648
D
+68.9%
45464566
D
+52.9%
484149633
D
+70.6%
619105728
D
+85.5%
6620774
D
+31.5%
522272794
D
+13.1%
415319734
R
−0.9%
378385763
R
−21.1%
289444733
R
−21.0%
175268443
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Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
12.7%
English
12.5%
Irish
11.6%
Italian
6.0%
American
5.7%
Polish
2.5%
French
2.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 47.7 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
1.1%
85+
1.3%
4.4%
75–84
4.7%
7.4%
65–74
8.7%
6.7%
55–64
7.8%
5.0%
45–54
5.2%
5.0%
35–44
5.0%
5.4%
25–34
5.3%
5.7%
18–24
3.6%
6.6%
5–17
6.2%
2.3%
<5
2.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$83,609
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC ranks near the middle of US counties.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC$83,609
South Carolina$69,324
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
10.8%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1817.4%
Working age (18–64)9.7%
Seniors (65+)7.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
87.4%
speak English only
Spanish9.7%
Other Indo-European1.5%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%
Other languages0.6%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Catholic & Orthodox
19.4%
Other Christian
9.9%
Baptist
6.0%
Mainline Protestant
3.5%
Methodist
2.9%
Pentecostal & Holiness
1.2%
Non-Christian
0.8%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Rapid population growth driven by affluent retirees and second-home buyers has shifted this coastal South Carolina metro's demographic profile steadily over the past decade, making voter composition harder to project from historical baselines.

The shift began with civil rights. 1984 marked the realignment in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, by a twenty points margin. The Republican margin reached its widest at twenty-six points in 1972. The 2024 margin was fourteen points.

The political shift has tracked, in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 66% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $83,609, and a 11% poverty rate describe the demographic context.

Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/25940/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina voted Republican by 13.8 points (R+14), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 122,630 votes cast, 52,146 went Democratic and 69,023 went Republican.
What is Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina as a "Old Confederacy" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 14 times, Republican 18 times, and other 2 times.
When did Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina voted Democratic was 1980.
How many people live in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina?
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina has a population of 227,455 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina?
Median household income in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina is $83,609 — above the national median of $80,734. The South Carolina state median is $69,324.
What is the political history of Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, South Carolina from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 14 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Old Confederacy" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.